Sonder
by nychthemeron
Summary: [Sonder - n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own] Effects of the Lazarus Syndrome may include nightmares, anxiety, and unexplained sensory phenomena. Perhaps a reoccurring dream is more than just that. Maybe it's a glimpse into another's complex infinity. Maybe it's a cry for help. Maybe it's a chance to save him. (SasuSaku)
1. Prologue

_There is an endless sea of nothing.  
Am I floating?  
I feel pressure.  
This isn't right._

 _This can't be death._

 _It can't be._

...

My name is Haruno Sakura and I was dead for eleven minutes.

On July 22, Hurricane Nagato devastated the village of Konoha. 28 people were pronounced dead, 173 were injured, and one person went missing. I was one of the lucky ones, I guess.

It has been two weeks since Konoha was completely destroyed and its citizens have already started to rebuild. Volunteers from surrounding villages have begun to pour in to help with the relief effort and funerals and memorials are being arranged for the victims.

I was found with severe injuries under the rubble from my childhood home. Were it not for my dear friend Ino, I would not have been found before the injuries became fatal. Fortunately for me, she was able to hear me struggling under the debris and provided on the spot care until help came and carted me off to the hospital. On July 23 at 5:43 in the morning, I was pronounced dead after seven minutes of the doctors trying to revive me. Eleven minutes after my death, I woke up gasping for air, apparently calling out for someone I didn't even know.

They call the act of returning from the dead the Lazarus syndrome—there are only a few reported cases of it in all recorded medical history therefore making me a rare specimen. Those who have experienced death have described it as an out of body experience, kind of like floating, along with the usual "light at the end of the tunnel" crap you hear in the movies.

From my experience, I can say death feels a lot like drowning.

...

 _This can't be death.  
Death can't be nothing._

 _I'm sinking._

 _I lift my arms, trying to swim through the darkness—_  
 _—And these are not my hands._

* * *

A/N: Giving this another shot. Looking forward to your responses xo

Nic


	2. A Mission

_I move my hands outwards, trying to propel myself towards the water's surface._

 _I burst through but the water tries to pull me closer to darkness._

 _I won't let it._

…

Life after death was not the same.

There was a dramatic improvement in the village, however. After almost a year of rebuilding and recovering, the once prominent village of Konoha was almost completely restored to its former glory. Known for its forests and national parks, a substantial amount of effort was put into planting new trees and making the environment hospitable for the local wildlife once again.

About six months ago, Ino and I joined a group of rangers dedicated to preserving Konoha's most famous national park, the Valley of the End. Due to the fact that eco-tourism was one of Konoha's main sources of economic growth, the village was full of scientists and park rangers to ensure the well-being and healthy growth and production of our parks, visitors, and economy. Ino's family, the Yamanakas, was composed of generation after generation of botanists and over the course of a century, they formed a close bond with the Nara family. The Naras, like the Yamanakas, was also a family that specialized in maintaining the environment. Comprised of mammologists, veterinarians, and a variety of different zoologists, they were the ones that took care of our wildlife. Shikamaru Nara was our age and one of Ino's friends since diapers ("Not by choice!" she always said) and was also a part of our group. Her other friend since the womb is Chouji Akimichi from a family of bioengineers and biochemists. We always joked that maybe the reason the Akimichis were known for their fantastic recipes and love of food just as much as their service to our parks was because cooking is just chemistry for hungry people.

The four of us, as well as well as seven other people around our age, made up the evaluation squad. Due to the intense nature of our duties, no one joined our group out of fear of getting hurt or fear of what the forests hid. Our group was a close knit one and we were respectfully dubbed the Konoha 11.

For me, joining the Konoha 11 was no easy task. There are hundreds of rules, regulations, and requirements for anyone wanting to join the Valley of the End squad. All hopefuls must undergo rigorous training and evaluations to ensure that the few who make it to the certification exams are at their physical and mental best.

My only problem was that I died.

Training for the squad was something Ino and I were doing before Hurricane Nagato hit. Had everything gone according to plan, we would have been certified and been qualified to join the week after the storm. My condition was a major setback so were it not for Ino lobbying for me and my impressive recovery and performance after my accident, I'd be sitting in my living room shoveling ice cream into my face. Instead, I'm sitting at the base of a large oak with my squad on a beautiful May night, passing around a bottle of cinnamon whiskey in honor of Chouji's twenty-third birthday.

Konoha 11 was on a three-month long expedition to determine the reason as to why the local wildlife had not yet returned to the Valley of the End despite (a) minimal damage being done to the forest and (b) our valiant efforts to restore the environment.

Now when I mentioned that the Valley of the End was Konoha's most famous national park, I never said why. First off, at approximately 13.2 million acres, it was not only our largest park, but also one of the largest in the world. In fact, the park was so large that it has been sectioned off into areas in order to better maintain and watch it. The areas are labelled A to Z and are then subdivided into colors so each color zone (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) is about 72,800 acres making areas A to Z 510,000 acres each. Now, every rule has an exception, and that exception is Area S. Area S is the smallest area at only 450,000 acres (about 703 square miles) and by far the most famous out of all. Despite the fact that only areas A and B are tourist-friendly and easily accessible, their popularity is next to none when compared to S.

The second reason the Valley of the End is so famous is because of all the local myths and legends surrounding the forest—more specifically, Area S. Most stories feature gruesome tales of suicides and bodies hidden in the foliage; some, of course, are true. Because of the dense forest, steep cliffs, and ever changing nature of the area, it's a popular place for criminals to dump bodies or for someone to make a deadly plunge off one of the many waterfalls. There are some stories, however, of something far more sinister lurking in the woods. Charred remains have been found in Area S and in the neighboring Area V leading to tales of cults or demons in the so-called "cursed area". I don't believe in that kind of stuff, but it makes for fun and scary stories to tell drunkenly around a fire.

That's what we were doing now. We were all huddled around the fire our survival specialist, Naruto Uzumaki, made and were swapping tales of horror to pass the time. The bottle of whiskey once again made its way into my hands and I took one last swig before handing it off to Shikamaru on my left. As the squad's medic, I had to maintain control of myself in case of an accident, but my buzz was enough to last me the night.

This was only the second week of our expedition and we had yet to see anything out of the ordinary. Everything had run incredibly smoothly and we were making incredible progress despite having to constantly stop to take notes and samples. Most of the group was a scientist of some sort with a couple of us thrown in there to make sure we all stayed safe so we came from all over the place and had not had much previous interaction before forming Konoha 11. The hardest part of our journey was yet to come, of course, but for now, we were enjoying what quiet time we had.

Funnily enough, sleeping on the forest floor is not nearly as bad as one would think. Maybe it's something you get used to, maybe not, but I never had any issue passing out after a long day of hiking and researching. Sleeping after my accident was always the same: I never got enough of it and in the early mornings, I would shoot awake, gasping for air as if I had stopped breathing altogether. Nightmares plagued me whenever I was able to manage to fall asleep and they were always the same: me drowning and not being able to find my way up out of the water. I would move my arms to swim to the surface until I noticed the hands I was moving were not my own and when I would gasp out of shock, I choked and sunk further into darkness. Since leaving for the expedition, the nightmares stopped and instead, I would have a dreamless sleep—probably due to exhaustion. The nights I dreamed were…strange to say the least. The dreams would play out like a story told in parts and if I had a choice, I would not wake up until I saw the story's end. Sometimes, I would have the same dream multiple times, almost like watching a rerun of a show. Other times, there would be what I call "filler dreams" in which nothing significant happens and nothing seems to make sense but I _know_ it's all connected.

We had just finished our celebration when we decided to call it a night. I huddled into my sleeping bag and prepared for an alcohol-induced night of dreamless sleep when I heard Tenten, our geologist and expert rock climber, whisper my name.

"Sakura? Are you awake?" she slurred.

I turned on my side and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw her face come into focus. "Yeah, I am. What's up, Ten?" I prepared to unzip my sleeping bag, sure that she was going to tell me she was ready to vomit after one drink too many.

"I don't want to, like, weird you out or anything," she whispered, "but sometimes, when you sleep, you, like, mumble and stuff. It's like you're talking to someone."

"Oh," I blushed. "Sorry, if it has woken you up or something before. I didn't know."

'That's okay," she said. She laughed quietly and I giggled in response. "Do you miss your boyfriend?" she asked.

I furrowed my brow in confusion. "My boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend."

"Oh, my bad," she replied. "Who's Sasuke, then? You say his name all the time in your sleep so I figured he was your boyfriend or something."

"Are you sure that's what I said?" I asked. "I don't know anyone by that name."

"Hmm… maybe I just heard wrong. Oh well, ignore what I said," she yawned. "I'm gonna go to sleep. Night, Sakura."

"Goodnight, Tenten."

Overhead, the stars provided enough light for me to see that everyone in the clearing was sound asleep—probably passed out drunk. A rustle in the trees startled me momentarily before I closed my eyes and forced myself to fall asleep.

And dreams did not evade me.

…

 _The air is crisp but the sun is warm._

 _I turn to my right to see and endless sea of green—trees._

 _I sigh in a voice that isn't mine._

 _I turn to my left—_

 _"Sasuke!"_

 _—blood._

* * *

Back again. Won't abandon this story, I promise!

Lots of love to you readers and those who followed and reviewed. xo

Nic


End file.
